Chapter 1370 - Too Strong The settlement was in recovery mode, but one family in particular had less to do compared to the other family and that was the tenth family. Their inner castle area had suffered minimal damage, yet they were nevertheless busy preparing a number of things. Ashley and his men were organising a ceremony, a funeral for Paul, and wanted to ask Quinn a number of things. With Paul gone, they didn't know what their duty was. They had stayed behind under the orders of the Vampire King, but with Bryce gone and Quinn the potential successor to that position, he might allow them to return to the Human World. However, in that case what were they supposed to do about blood and so on. It was a confusing time for them all. Timmy and Xander had organised the manpower to rebuild the houses and structures in the settlement, but had so far avoided restoring the pooling area. The main reason for that was that they were unsure if they would even be staying in this place. They didn't want to waste their time doing work. And then there were issues with the Cursed faction ship itself. Without Paul, Leo was more busy than ever in the Vampire settlement, and didn't have a clear picture of what had been going on at the Cursed ship, Linda was in charge of that, however… the reports she was getting didn't sound great. Apparently, all three major factions were struggling in the fight against the Dalki, this included those of the Cursed faction. All of this information was being passed on to Paul's Office, which had temporarily become Linda's for the time being. "Do you need us to return to the Cursed ship? We could help in the war." Linda suggested. "I appreciate the offer, but I don't think that will help much. One person can't really make a difference in this war. This has turned into a full scale battle." Sam explained with a sigh. "We've spread our forces to the three major Cursed planets and are holding them off as best we can, unfortunately I believe it's only a matter of time until they break through.Their numbers show no sign of slowing down no matter how many we defeat. Perhaps they are already using the demon tier beast to their advantage." "We also need some of you to stay in the Vampire World. Just because we have stopped Arthur from killing the Demon tier beast doesn't mean we have stopped the Dalki's plan of getting full possession of the Dragon. We need to make sure that it is safe more than anything. When Quinn wakes up…" Sam paused there because he started to think about his statement. If there was one person that could make a difference it was Quinn, but it seemed like the Vampire settlement needed him as well. Were they really useless without him? "I would like to be the one to inform Quinn. If you just start telling him things, he'll certainly make a rash decision as always. He did good… he deserves some rest. We should at least be able to grant him that." The call had ended there and Linda let out a big sigh, she felt more useless than usual, especially since she had missed everything that had happened, and now she felt like she could do nothing either. 'More and more people have died in this war…It feels like…it's never going to end.' Linda thought. —— There was something strange going on in the tenth family castle that the vampires who lived there were aware of, and that was that the top two floors of the castle were off limits. Only those that Leo had given permission to were allowed to be there. The others didn't think too much of this, because this was also where Quinn was currently resting in his chambers, but there was another reason for this. One of the large bedrooms that was so grand had been emptied and at the moment, Erin stayed there most of her time. The reason why all the objects in the room were to be removed was because she was currently using it as a training room, and there were slashes, cuts in the walls all over. If any items had been left in the room then they would have been destroyed by now. She swung her Katana blade before swiftly switching to the Demon tier weapon on her back, swinging it above her head, letting out an almighty scream as she hit the ground. The Dhampir was breathing heavily and covered in sweat, even now that she wasn't swinging the blade one could see that her hands were tensed up. "You're losing control of your breathing now as well." Leo commented. "If this carries on, all this extra training you are doing will make you worse not better." Erin didn't seem to react to Leo's words as she usually would have and instead put the weapon away and sat down mediating. "Does it help to swing your sword?" Leo asked, knowing that what she was doing wasn't any form of training at all. The young woman would be doing this nonstop for hours on end, and Leo was wondering if she had even gotten any sleep. "Swinging the sword distracts me." Erin finally replied. "I don't know why…I can't control it anymore. I thought we had it under control, but ever since we met Laxmus, I can't control it, Leo." Her voice cracked slightly saying those words. Erin always had a strong appearance, and even before everything the two of them had gone through he had watched her power through her condition without ever complaining, but this time she almost seemed scared. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞 "I can feel it…she's right." Erin said, opening her eyes that were now glowing yellow. "Even now Leo, with you standing here, I have sliced you down in my head five times already…make that six. Teacher…what are we going to do, what am I going to do…" For the first time, Leo didn't seem to have an answer. He had done what they could to cure her urges, yet he had never expected her to have this type of reaction. "There are…knowledgeable people in the Cursed faction. Perhaps, they can find a way to reverse the effects on you, Erin, don't give up. In the meantime, you don't have to worry. Even if you were to try and strike me, I am capable of taking you on." Leo replied. "Really?" Erin asked. At that moment, she stood up from where she was, and placed her hand on the hilt of her Katana blade. She waited, and Leo, seeing what she was trying to do, had done the same. It was a quick slash. The fastest and most powerful strike that Leo had. Using his ability, he could feel that Erin wasn't holding back, so he chose not to either. There was silence between the two, and the second she went to pull her blade out of her sheathe, Leo did the same. However, Erin's was slightly faster, her blade releasing a strong yellow blood swipe. Leo had done the same, also reinforcing his strike with the third stage of Qi. The two slashes met in the middle, and as they touched, the yellow slash consumed the red in an instant and continued going forward. Leo, seeing the slash still coming towards him, had no choice but to move to the side, allowing for the attack to continue going forward, and eventually hit the wall, causing a big marking on it to be made. Leo's hands were shaking as he saw this. "Erin, your power has gotten even stronger." She nodded in response, and now had tears flowing down her face. "I could feel it, meeting Arthur, and then Laxmus, my power keeps growing as if it desires to defeat them. Even without training, I'm sorry Leo, but I don't think I can travel with you…or any of the Cursed faction anymore." Leo wanted to stop her, but he could feel that even now the energy inside Erin was growing, and the next second, she had gone out of the door, Leo had entered. It was clear she was deciding to head back to the Cursed ship, and away from any vampires. 'It looks like…I failed you.' Leo thought. 'Maybe I was never cut out to be a teacher. I understand how hard it can be now, master.' Erin's disappearance was kept a secret from the others. A lot hadn't even known that she was there in the first place, and no one had dared to ask questions about her in the tenth family due to her close connection with their currently only Vampire knight, who had temporarily taken over as the leader. Finally, after more than a week since his fight, the one they had all been waiting for woke up. Quinn's eyes opened wide, and he could see himself in a bedroom. "You're finally awake, bro. Or should I call you, your majesty." Fex greeted him. "Man, you sure did a lot, huh. I can't believe it, it looks like I might really have to take some love advice from you." Quinn smiled, he was happy to see Fex was okay. The Vampire Lord had been afraid that something might have happened to him and Linda due to Arthur's death. However seeing him also acted as a trigger to recall all of the events that had happened before he had collapsed. 'The Quest…the option it's still there.' Quinn thought, looking at his system.